Kerry: ‘Hell of a Pinpoint Operation’ by Israel

In a conversation with an aide that was caught on an open microphone Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry appeared to express concerns about the tactics being used by Israel in its Gaza invasion.

“It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation. It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation,” he said, apparently sarcastically, in a phone call while on a television set waiting to record interviews with Sunday talk shows. Fox News Sunday aired the clip.

“Right. It’s escalating really significantly and it just underscores the need for a cease fire,” the aide said.

“We’ve got to get over there,” Mr. Kerry said, hanging up and handing a cell phone to someone off screen. “I think, John, we ought to go tonight. I think it’s crazy to be sitting around.”

After airing the clip, Fox host Chris Wallace asked Mr. Kerry whether he was upset that the Israelis are going too far. The secretary responded by defending Israel’s operations, which it says are aimed at shutting down tunnels used by Hamas to surreptitiously cross from Gaza into Israel.

“You have people who’ve come out of tunnels. You have a right to go in and take out those tunnels,” he said. “We completely support that and we support Israel’s right to defend itself against rockets that are continuing to come in.”

Mr. Kerry went on to speak directly about his conversation with his aide.

“Yeah, it’s tough. It’s tough to have this kind of operation,” he said. “And I reacted obviously in a way that you know, anybody does with respect to young children and civilians. But war is tough.”

In a statement, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: “Given the range of important global events we are not going to spend time litigating whether taping and playing Secretary Kerry’s private conversation was consistent with acceptable protocol. Regardless, his private comments were consistent with his publicly stated view on all five shows: Israel has the right to defend itself including against recent tunnel attacks, but he has encouraged them to not only take steps to prevent civilian casualties, but to take steps to de-escalate and we’re working together to achieve a ceasefire.”

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